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The suspicion and fear is palpable when talking to British Columbians who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
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Douglas Todd: Here's what B.C. vaccine opponents say about their refusal to get jab – Vancouver Sun
Analysis: A minority of British Columbians fear the unknown long-term health effects of vaccines, expressing a palpable distrust of pharmaceutical companies.
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Even with Victoria saying people will need a B.C. Vaccine Card to get into such places as restaurants, casinos and fitness centres as of Sept. 13, some of the one in six British Columbians who haven’t had any vaccination told Postmedia they’re worried vaccines will cause long-term harm to their health.
Jerome Henen, a retired accountant in North Vancouver, said he “just doesn’t want to take the risk” of getting jabbed, given the possible “negative effects on the body down the road. There are a lot of valid questions about the vaccines.”
Though Henen enjoys going to restaurants and libraries, he’s resisting the “group think” that is leading many to demand everyone must be vaccinated. There will never be any absolute way to stop the coronavirus, he said, or any other respiratory disease.
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He is also not impressed with Dr. Bonnie Henry’s new mask mandate.
“Wearing a mask is like using chicken wire to stop the rain,” he said. “Nothing is scientific anymore,” he said of government rationales for reinstituting masking rules. “Everything is tainted by politics.”
There have been repeated assurances from government officials and scientists that the vaccines are safe.
Despite that, a Metro Vancouver nurse, who asked not to be named because she would be reprimanded by her hospital, was one of many who contacted Postmedia to offer their reasons for refusing to join those British Columbians who have made this one of the most vaccinated jurisdictions in the world.
The nurse said there is a “huge divide and controversy in the medical community” over whether to take vaccines, even while studies suggest they’re generally about 90 per cent effective against the coronavirus.
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‘What will be the long-term effects of this vaccine 20 years from now?” asked the nurse, who argued research data is still emerging and pharmaceutical companies won’t take legal responsibility for vaccine side effects.
Even though vaccines have been ordered for staff in B.C. seniors’ homes, the nurse said she’s going to wait to see what her employer, and the B.C. Nurses’ Union, require of health-care workers like her.
The B.C. government, like virtually all governments, has been posting immunization notices that aim to reassure reluctant people that “feeling worried or unsure is completely normal when something is new.”
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The province’s COVID-19 site goes on to explain that “Health Canada has conducted a rigorous scientific review of the available medical evidence to assess the safety of the approved COVID-19 vaccines. … No major safety concerns have been identified.”
B.C. also links to federal health web pages, which go into further detail on safety, noting, for instance, “The manufacturer (Pfizer Canada ULC and BioNTech Manufacturing GmbH) is legally required to submit reports of adverse events to Health Canada. The manufacturer is planning to follow clinical trial participants for at least two years after the second dose of the vaccine is given. It must communicate any safety concerns to Health Canada.”
But such reassurances have not been enough for the vaccine-wary British Columbians that contacted Postmedia, who came from a range of ethnocultural backgrounds. They offered diverse reasons for not getting shots.
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“History has displayed the dark side of vaccines when they were rushed into use,” one health-care worker claimed.
Another remarked: “I won’t be a guinea pig until the pharmaceutical companies drop their liability shield” against lawsuits about side effects, referring to news reports.
Several argued they should have “the freedom to choose,” given what they called drug companies dubious record on safety.
One reader was pregnant and didn’t want to take any risks. Another said the first Pfizer shot had made her very ill.
But federal government sites say the side effects observed during the clinical trials for Pfizer “are similar to what you might have with other vaccines” such as for the flu. “The side effects that followed vaccine administration in clinical trials were mild or moderate. They included things like pain at the site of injection, body chills, feeling tired and feeling feverish. These … do not pose a risk to health.”
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Simon Fraser University’s Valorie Crooks, who specializes in health geography and supports the idea of a vaccine passport, said many hesitant people will likely “wait to see what they actually look like” before they make a decision about going the vaccination route, which will increase immunity for the general population.
According to health authorities, vaccine bookings more than doubled early this week after the announcement of B.C.’s vaccine card, to nearly 17,000. That’s up from just over 8,000 during the same two-day period last week.
But, in the long run, Crooks said, “The rollout of the B.C. Vaccine Card will be crucial” in regard to encouraging vaccinations. People will consider the information it provides about where and when the card will be necessary and whether it will be in digital form, in paper, or both. Some people, she said, “might exploit the gaps” in the certificate program.
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Gloria Gutman, professor emerita of gerontology at Simon Fraser University, said the people who are most hesitant about taking vaccines are often members of the populations that are normally most statistically at risk of poor health.
That includes a relatively small proportion of seniors, but it’s more likely to be those on low incomes, Indigenous people and immigrants, some of whom aren’t fluent in English. The B.C. Vaccine Card, Gutman said, should be a comfort to the majority of seniors, who are eager to get back into society.
Since 42 per cent of Metro Vancouver residents are immigrants, Gutman said public-health officials need to focus on making their pro-vaccine messages as clear and accessible as possible. Many immigrants, she said, come from countries where governments and medical authorities are not trusted.
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TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
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Yuri Kageyama is on X:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:SHOP)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:REI.UN)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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